MANUFACTURING OF GEAR BOXES

1. INTRODUCTION:

Gears play a prominent role in mechanical power transmission. A gear or cogwheel

is a rotating machine part having cut teeth, or cogs, which mesh with another
toothed part to transmit torque.

Geared devices can change the speed, torque, and direction of a power source.
Gears almost always produce a change in torque, creating a mechanical
advantage, through their gear ratio, and thus may be considered a simple
machine. The teeth on the two meshing gears all have the same shape. Two or
more meshing gears, working in a sequence, are called a gear train.

Gears of various type, size and material are widely used in several machines from
simple wall clocks and wrist watches to simple machines to complex machines and
manufacturing machine tools, to automobiles, aviation, defense, to very large gear
boxes are used in large ships, cranes, wind turbines, Railways, aviation, space
telescopes to construction machinery, for dam gate operations and heavy weight
lifting machines and systems requiring positive and stepped drive.

2. PRODUCT & ITS APPLICATION:

A Gear train or Gear Box is a mechanical system formed by mounting gears on a

frame so the teeth of the gears engage. Gear teeth are designed to ensure the
pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each other without slipping, providing a
smooth transmission of rotation from one gear to the next. The speed ratio for a
pair of meshing gears can be computed from ratio of the radii of the pitch circles
and the ratio of the number of teeth on each gear. Friction and wear between two
gears is dependent on the tooth profile. The most commonly used in modern times,
is the involute profile.

Features of gears and gear trains include:

  The ratio of the pitch circles of mating gears defines the speed ratio and the
mechanical advantage of the gear set.
 A planetary gear train provides high gear reduction in a compact package.

 It is possible to design gear teeth for gears that are non-circular, yet still
transmit torque smoothly.
 The speed ratios of chain and belt drives are computed in the same way as
gear ratios.

There are several types of gears viz external gear with the teeth formed on the
outer surface of a cylinder or cone and internal gear with the teeth on inner
surface. Gears are generally specified by their type of tooth and blank shape e.g.
spur, bevel, spiral etc., material, size or dimensions, geometry and special
features, if any. The main types of gears can be classified as Spur, Helical, Worm
Gears, and Bevel Gears etc.

 Spur gears have straight-cut tooth aligned parallel to the axis of rotation.
Each tooth has involute profile these gears are used on parallel shafts and
no axial thrust is created.
 Helical Gears are having tooth follow helix curve along the cylinder surface
and therefore leading edges of the teeth are not parallel but at an angle to
the axis of rotation. The angled teeth engage more gradually than do spur
gear teeth, causing them to run more smoothly and quietly. The helical
gears invariably produce axial thrust load. The helical profile can also be
used to mesh with shafts axis oriented in various angles and these gears are
called "skew helix gears".
 A bevel gear is shaped like a circular cone with most of its tip cut off. When
two bevel gears mesh, their cone vertices are at the same point. Their shaft
axes intersect at this point, forming an angle between the shafts. Spiral
bevel gears are also manufactured as circular arc with non-constant tooth
depth or circular arc with constant tooth depth. Spiral bevel gears have the
same advantages and disadvantages relative to their straight-cut cousins as
helical gears do to spur gears.
  A worm gear is when having large helix angle, close to 90 degrees and fairly
long in the axial direction. I.e. forms screw like shape. Worms and worm
wheel form a special gear type, where worm resemble screws and meshes
with a worm wheel, which envelopes the worm screw. A worm-and- wheel
set is compact way to achieve a high torque, low speed gear ratio.
 Special gears called sprockets are formed to engage with chains, viz bicycles
and motorcycles. Even for belt drive pulleys with teeth are used in the
timing belt drive, to synchronize the movement.

When gears are put in a frame or box, it is called Gear Box. There are several
applications for witch, standard speed and power ratios are made available. The
gear boxes have several purposes viz power/ torque amplifier or speed reducer
where output gear has more teeth than the input gear. Conversely, if the output
gear has fewer teeth than the input gear, then the gear train reduces the input
torque and increases the speed of output shaft. All configurations and applications
are possible for gears and gear box designs.

Gears are widely used in various mechanisms and devices to transmit power and
motion positively without slip between parallel, intersecting axis and non-
intersecting, non-parallel shafts, without change in the direction of rotation, with
change in the direction of rotation, without change of speed of rotation, with
change in speed at any desired ratio. Often some gearing system like rack – and –
pinion is also used to transform rotary motion into linear motion and vice-versa.

The major applications are : Speed gear box, feed gear box and some other
kinematic units of machine tools, Speed drives in all types of simple to complex
manufacturing machinery, automobiles, Speed and / or feed drives of several
metal forming machines, all most all industrial Machinery and appliances use gears
and gear boxes. Large and heavy duty gear boxes are used in mining, cement
industries, sugar industries, cranes, conveyors etc. Precision equipment like clocks
and watches and industrial robots and toys also use gears.

3. DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS FOR PROMOTER:

Any ITI, Diploma or Graduate with some background in manufacturing or
marketing.

4. INDUSTRY OUTLOOK/TREND

The gear box availability and capability is a characteristic of industry, providing

their unique domestic and export potential. Indian Gear Industry is now more
matured and can compete with Global players in terms of Designing, Delivery of
quality products. Further, Indian market is having considerable domestic demand
that is growing very fast. The global industrial gearboxes market is expected to
grow at CAGR 4.4 per cent indicating healthy demand growth.

The industrial gearboxes industry in India is populated with large number of large
medium and small scale vendors. Amongst 20 large units are prominent viz Bharat
Gears Limited, Prakash Gears, Mahindra Gears and Transmissions, Rajkot, Gears
India, Bajaj Group, Premier Automobiles Ltd, Punjab Bevel Gears, Bevel Gears, and
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, for automotive sector.

For Gears and gear boxes, well-known names are Ashoka Machine Tools Pvt. Ltd.,
Eaton Corp, Hi-Tech Gears Ltd., Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd., Shanti Gears Ltd., SRS
Gears and Sprockets, V.V. Enterprises, NPEC India Ltd, Larsen & Toubro, Om Metals
Infraprojects Ltd, Shanti Gears, Coromandel Engineering, McNally Bharat
Engineering, Elecon Gears etc. Many of these units are well known for best quality
gears not only in India but from all over world. Almost all Global players are
planning to get a foothold in the Indian market through existing manufacturer or by
way sourcing products or setting up its own manufacturing base to nearby country.

There are over 500 small and medium sector producing gears and gearboxes
serving variety of industries from heavy machine equipments like cement,
construction, mining industries, power, fertilizer, machine tools, machine products,
industrial machines and equipments in food processing, pharma, dairy, etc.
With its use in assembly lines, conveyor belts, bottling, packaging, and positioning
of products, wind energy to fossil fuels power plants, the demand for precision and
efficient gearboxes is expected to get a boost. The automated material handling
sector will witness steady growth with new equipment installation, growing
production facilities, extension of plants and construction of industries. The
demand from all the industrial sectors in addition to auto sector will support the
growth.

The presence of substitutes such as direct drive systems may hamper the market.
These products eliminate the use of gears, thus reducing the weight and
complexity, and increasing the efficiency as there is no energy loss. Use of direct
drives through software is limited to precise speed control applications. But this
shift from gear box is hard to affect the high power/ torque products as gear box
has lower overall costs then the direct drive systems. The gear products are
seeing huge jump in production with 3D modeling CNC machining, grinding etc. for
design and manufacture precision and custom products at low costs.

5. MARKET POTENTIAL AND MARKETING ISSUES. IF ANY:

Gears and gear boxes are products that are very specialized machined component.
The manufacturers of industrial machinery and all most all end user segments have
to normally source these products from special gears and gear boxes
manufacturing units. Even the automobile gears are supplied by specialized
manufacturing units. In India, the industry is estimated to have market size of
industrial gearboxes alone is worth Rs 1,500 crore. This market is expected to
touch Rs 2,000 crore in coming years.

Geared Motors – electric motors built in with gears are emerging as new trend in
this sector mostly in range of 7.5 kW to 75 KW. The largest segment of the gear
motors market is 7.5 KW to 15 KW range as it has large number of applications.
Most applications are in material handling, food & beverage, and automotive
sectors. Gear motors are likely to grow in demand throughout the industry for
production, transportation, and processing industries.
In view of the rapid growth of industrial machinery and equipment sector, there is
very good scope for a gear and gear box manufacturing unit with design, and
manufacturing facilities and capabilities.
The new unit specializing in specific product range and customer / product group in
end users will have easy and successful access to the market. Choosing niche
products like geared motors for supply to customers can be very helpful.

6. RAW MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Various grades of alloy steels are most commonly used because of their high
strength-to-weight ratio and low cost. These are either cast or forged depending on
end application. Gear production is done by machining of standard stock items like
rods, billets.

Numerous nonferrous alloys, cast irons, powder-metallurgy and even plastics are
used in the manufacture of gears. The gear blanks are produced by die cast,
investment casting, and powder metallurgy etc. processes.

The project may select product mix and select gear blank process viz casting /
forging to focus the end consumer segments.

7. MANUFACTURING PROCESS:

Manufacture of gears needs several processing operations in depending upon the

material and type of the gears and quality desired. The stages generally are:

⎯ preforming the blank without or with teeth

⎯ Annealing of the blank, if required, as in case of forged or cast steels
⎯ Preparation of the gear blank to the required dimensions by machining
⎯ producing teeth or finishing the preformed teeth by machining
⎯ Full or surface hardening of the machined gear (teeth), if required
⎯ Finishing teeth, if required, by shaving, grinding etc.
⎯ Inspection of the finished gears.

Gear blanks and even gears along with teeth requiring substantial to little
machining or finishing are produced by various casting processes.

 Sand mold casting: for large cast iron gears, low speed machinery and
hand operated devices.
 Shell mold casting: Small gears in batches are often produced by this
process.
 Centrifugal casting: The solid blanks or the outer rims (without teeth) of
worm wheels made of cast iron, phosphor bronze or even steel are
preferably performed by centrifugal casting. The performs are machined to
form the gear blank of proper size. Then the teeth are developed by
machining.
 Metal mold casting: Medium size steel gears with limited accuracy and
finish are often made in single or few pieces by metal mold casting. For
general and precision use the cast preforms are properly machined.
 Die casting: Large lot or mass production of small gears of low melting
point alloys of Al, Zn, Cu, Mg etc. are done mainly by die casting. Such
reasonably accurate gears are directly or after little further finishing are
used under light load and moderate speeds, for example in instruments,
camera, toys.
 Investment casting: This near-net-shape method is used for producing
small to medium size gears of exotic materials with high accuracy and
surface finish hardly requiring further finishing. These relatively costly gears
are generally used under heavy loads and stresses.

It is estimated that almost 80% of all gearing produced worldwide is produced by

using gear blanks cast, forged, in near final shape.

Machining:
The most common form of gear machining is cutting metal by tools called hob. The
hobbing cutters rotate and mesh with gear blank like a meshing gear thereby
generating teeth profile on blank. Other processes like gear shaping, milling, and
broaching also exist. For metal gears in the transmissions of cars and trucks, the
teeth are heat treated to make them hard and more wear resistant while leaving
the core soft and tough. For large gears that are prone to warp, a quench press is
used.

Finishing Processes:
Gear-tooth shaving, grinding, honing and lapping is the finishing processes that
provide tooth profile correction, accurate tolerances and surface finish. Gear-
honing machines produce teeth to reduce the surface roughness of the tooth
profile. Gears are lapped on gear-lapping machines after they have undergone heat
treatment.

Quality Control:
Overall gear geometry is inspected and verified using various methods such as
coordinate-measuring machines, white light scanner or laser scanning. Metal
composition is testes at blank stage. Other tests like teeth skin hardness etc. are
done as per requirements.
Important dimensional variations of gears result from variations in the
combinations of the dimensions of the tools used to manufacture them. An
important parameter for meshing qualities is backlash. Precision gears are
inspected by a method where meshing gear vibrations are recorded showing
variations with a high resolution as the gear was rotated.

8. MANPOWER REQUIREMENT:

The unit shall require highly skilled service persons. The unit can start from 22
employees initially and increase to 47 or more depending on business volume.
Sr Monthly
Type of Employees No of Employees
No Salary

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

1 Skilled Operators 20000 8 12 16 18 20

2 Semi-Skilled/ Helpers 9000 10 12 14 16 18

3 Supervisor/ Manager 30000 1 2 2 3 3

4 Accounts/ Marketing 20000 1 2 3 4 4

5 Other Staff 8000 2 2 2 2 2

TOTAL 22 30 37 43 47

9. IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE:

The unit can be implemented within 8 months from the serious initiation of project
work.

Time Required
Sr No Activities
in Months
1 Acquisition of Premises 2
2 Construction (if Applicable) 2
Procurement and Installation of Plant and
3 3
Machinery
4 Arrangement of Finance 2
5 Manpower Recruitment and start up 3
Total Time Required (Some Activities run
8
concurrently)

10. COST OF PROJECT:

The unit will require total project cost of Rs 319.23 lakhs as shown below:

Sr No Particulars In Lakhs
1 Land 25.00
2 Building 45.00
3 Plant and Machinery 177.00
 4 Fixtures and Electrical Installation 4.85
Other Assets/ Preliminary and Preoperative
5 3.00
Expenses
6 Margin for working Capital 64.38
TOTAL PROJECT COST 319.23

11. MEANS OF FINANCE:

The project will require promoter to invest about Rs 128.09 lakhs and seek bank
loans of Rs 191.14 lakhs based on 70% loan on fixed assets.

Sr No Particulars In Lakhs

1 Promoters Contribution 128.09

2 Loan Finance 191.14
TOTAL: 319.23

12. WORKING CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS:

Working capital requirements are calculated as below:

Sr Gross Margin Bank
Particulars Margin %
No Amount Amount Finance
1 Inventories 43.26 40 17.30 25.96
2 Receivables 50.41 50 25.20 25.20
3 Overheads 4.57 100 4.57 0.00
4 Creditors 43.26 40 17.30 25.96

TOTAL 141.49 64.38 77.12

13. LIST OF MACHINERY REQUIRED:

Quantit Total
Sr No Particulars UOM Rate
y Value
Main Machines/ Equipment

1 Blank/ Billet cutting machines Nos 2 150000 300000

2 Induction Heater for blanks Nos 2 250000 500000
 3 Pneumatic Forging Hammer Nos 2 700000 1400000
4 Mech Forging Hammer Nos 2 250000 500000
5 Gear Hobbing Machine Nos 2 2000000 4000000
6 Gear Grinding Machine Nos 2 1800000 3600000
7 Heavy Duty Milling Machine Nos 2 550000 1100000
8 Heat Treatment Induction Type Nos 2 180000 360000
9 Shot blasting machine Nos 2 120000 240000
10 CNC Lathe Nos 2 650000 1300000
11 Cylindrical Grinder Nos 1 700000 700000
12 Lapping Machine Nos 1 800000 800000
13 Lathe machine Nos 2 200000 400000
14 Vertical Lathe Nos 1 450000 450000
15 Radial & Pillar Drilling Machine Nos 2 200000 400000
Gear Profile Inspection and Other
16 LS 3 100000 300000
Testing Machine
Quantit Total
Sr No Particulars UOM Rate
y Value
17 5 axis Measuring m/c CNC Nos 1 650000 650000

Subtotal: 17000000

Tools and Ancillaries

1 Die tools and gauges LS 1 500000 500000

2 Misc. tools etc. LS 1 200000 200000

Subtotal: 700000
Fixtures and Elect Installation
Storage racks and trolleys LS 1 75000 75000
Other Furniture LS 1 50000 50000
Telephones/ Computer LS 1 60000 60000
Electrical Installation LS 1 300000 300000
Subtotal: 485000
Other Assets/ Preliminary and
LS 1 300000 300000
Preoperative Expenses
TOTAL PLANT MACHINERY
18485000
COST

All the machines and equipment are available from local manufacturers. The
entrepreneur needs to ensure proper selection of product mix and proper type of
dies and tooling to have modern and flexible designs. It is worthwhile to look at
reconditioned imported machines, dies and tooling for this unit. Some of the
machinery and dies and tooling suppliers are listed here below:

1. Vinayak Machines
Plot No. B-1, Site 2,
Loni Road Industrial Area Mohan Nagar,
Near World Square Mall, Ghaziabad-201007

2. Circle Machinery (india)

D-5, Bulandshahar Road, Industrial Area,
Ghaziabad - 201009, Uttar Pradesh, India

3. Gleason Works (India) Private Ltd.

Plot 37, Doddenakundi Industrial Area,
Whitefield Road,
Mahadevapura, Bangalore, 560 048

4. Hans-Juergen Geiger Maschinen-Vertrieb GmbH

James-Watt-Strasse 12
D-72555 Metzingen
Germany

Other well-known machine suppliers are Acme Toolings, Ace manufacturing

systems, Batliboi Ltd., Bharat Fritz Werner, HMT Machine Tools Ltd., Advani Oerlikon
Ltd, Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd., Lokesh Machines Ltd., Praga Tools Ltd., Toolcraft
Systems Pvt. Ltd. Etc. The above list of machine supplier is illustrative.

14. PROFITABILITY CALCULATIONS:

Sr
Particulars UOM Year Wise estimates
No
Year
Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
1
 1 Capacity Utilization % 25 35 45 55 65
604.9
2 Sales Rs Lakhs 846.87 1088.83 1330.79 1572.75
1
Raw Materials & Other Direct 519.1
3 Rs Lakhs 726.76 934.41 1142.05 1349.70
Inputs 1
4 Gross Margin Rs Lakhs 85.79 120.11 154.42 188.74 223.06
5 Overheads Except Interest Rs Lakhs 28.04 28.04 28.04 28.04 28.04
6 Interest Rs Lakhs 26.76 26.76 26.76 26.76 26.76
7 Depreciation Rs Lakhs 27.58 27.58 27.58 27.58 27.58

8 Net Profit Before Tax Rs Lakhs 3.41 37.72 72.04 106.35 140.67

The Unit will have capacity of 10000 nos per year of gear and gear boxes of
different sizes/ types/ ratings. The sale/ distribution prices of gear/ gear boxes
range from Rs 1200 per unit for small capacity units to Rs 1,00,000 or more per
gear box depending on type, size/ rating and volumes.

The raw material cost ranges from Rs 60 to 350 per kg for precision cast steel gear
blanks and for forged gear blanks cost varies from Rs 120 to Rs 300 per Kg. The
material requirements are considered with wastage/ scrap etc. of 10 % of finished
products. The unusable scrap is sold at @ Rs 18 ~ 50 per Kg. and the income of
same is added. Energy Costs are considered at Rs 7 per Kwh and fuel cost is
considered at Rs. 65 per liter. The depreciation of plant is taken at 10 % and
Interest costs are taken at 14 -15 % depending on type of industry.

15. BREAK EVEN ANALYSIS:

The project is can reach break-even capacity at 24.01 % of the installed capacity as
depicted here below:

Sr No Particulars UOM Value

1 Sales at Full Capacity Rs Lakhs 2419.62

2 Variable Costs Rs Lakhs 2076.46
3 Fixed Cost incl. Interest Rs Lakhs 82.39
 % of Inst
4 Break Even Capacity 24.01
Capacity

16. STATUTORY/ GOVERNMENT APPROVALS

1. The unit shall have to get state industrial unit registration from DIC, IEC Code for
Export and local authority clearance. Depending on structure of finance the
company shall need to register company with registrar of companies. The
registration and approval for factory plan, safety for Fire etc. requirement,
registration as per Labour laws ESI, PF etc. shall be required as per rules and
applicability. Before starting the unit will also need GST registration for
procurement of materials as also for sale of goods. As such there is no pollution
control registration requirements, except installation of chimney/ blowers for heat
treatment furnace / pickling line and ensure safe environment as per rules of
factory safety. Solid waste disposal shall have to meet the required norms.
Entrepreneur may contact State Pollution Control Board where ever it is applicable.

17. BACKWARD AND FORWARD INTEGRATION

The machines and equipment offer scope for diversification in to producing special
types of gear and gear box products. The unit can attempt import substitution of
geared motors market by ensuring tie up with motor drive manufacturers. The unit
can also offer standard products for consumer and industrial appliances and
machines etc. by using the spare capacities and machine capabilities. As such
there is not much scope for organic backward or forward integration.

18. TRAINING CENTERS/COURSES

There are no specific training centers for wire drawing technology. There are
training for dies and tools development run by several centers of excellence viz
Indo German Tool Room at Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Chennai, and CTTC Bhubaneswar
etc. shall be helpful.

The most important scope of learning is in new product design and development
by associating with institutes like NID etc. Entrepreneur may also study the new
product designs, product range, features and specifications of leading Brands /
competitors across the world by scanning the Internet and downloading data. Viz.
North American, Europe, China etc. markets.

Udyamimitra portal ( link : www.udyamimitra.in ) can also be accessed for hand-

holding services viz. application filling / project report preparation, EDP, financial
Training, Skill Development, mentoring etc.

Entrepreneurship program helps to run business successfully is also available from

Institutes like Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) and its
affiliates all over India.

Disclaimer:

Only few machine manufacturers are mentioned in the profile, although many
machine manufacturers are available in the market. The addresses given for
machinery manufacturers have been taken from reliable sources, to the best of
knowledge and contacts. However, no responsibility is admitted, in case any
inadvertent error or incorrectness is noticed therein. Further the same have been
given by way of information only and do not carry any recommendation.

Source:- Udyami Mitra/Sidbi